re: #139 nines09

Doing yard work, in and out.. speaking of slate…back in 1970 a friend of mine on his way to Strawberry Fields fesival at the Mosport raceway in Bowmansville Ontario noticed a quarry off the North East Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike right before one of the tunnels… Slatington Pa. Or more accurate, Emerald pa. We went and searched out quarries to dive into, from height, because we were nuts about that at that time. Emerald Pennsylvania. THAT is the one we used more than others just because it was so great. You zoom in and you will notice outcroppings right in the middle, one was our 50 foot dive platform, and that little island off of it was recovery and the closet to the road was a 30 foot or so dive paradise. Deep, and cold with very large fish and spring fed clean clear water. He was in a bus so he was able to spot the quarry. We drove up from Philly and along with other crazies challenged ourselves to get brush burns on the way down from a 100 foot jump….or dive. Nobody ever died while my crew was there..but some SCUBA people went down and never came back up.. It was the old slate quarries, and they were nicely dug out so the water was under you at the top and not a leap, except for the badge of honor kamikazi cliffs close to the Turnpike…. Ain’t I fountain of useless info?

The ‘public pool’ in Joliet, IL was a quarry. I swam in it in the 60s.